Even after 16 years, Montenegrin investigators have not discovered who fired the fatal shots at Duško Jovanović on May 27, 2004 in Podgorica.
The owner and editor-in-chief of "Dana" was killed after leaving the newsroom.
So far, only Damir Mandić from Podgorica has been charged with participation in the murder. In April 2017, the Appellate Court upheld the verdict for complicity and sentenced him to 19 years in prison.
The principals and executors remained beyond the reach of justice.
In mid-September 2019, the director of the Police Directorate, Veselin Veljović, announced that the fatigue of the competent prosecutor on the night when Jovanović was killed was the reason that the case of the murder of the editor of the newspaper "Dan" was not fully resolved and that the case was irretrievably lost. He said this during the session of the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration.
Veljović then repeated that there were omissions in the investigation into the murder of Jovanović, but he also said that he was sure that it was not a question of obstruction and conscious intent.
In two days, the High Court will decide whether Mandić will also be released, which will discuss the request for conditional release of that man from Podgorica.
Convicted of complicity in the murder of Duško Jovanović, he sent an application asking for parole, not long after at the beginning of the year he was given the opportunity to be released from prison on weekends and take annual leave with his family, as well as other benefits in accordance with the law...
In April 2016, he was legally sentenced to 19 years in prison for complicity in the murder of the editor of the newspaper "Dan", the attempted murder of his bodyguard Milorad Mirović and the kidnapping of Miodrag Nikolić.
This was the third trial for the murder of Jovanovic.
In the first verdict of Judge Radovan Mandić, his namesake at the end of 2006, he was acquitted of the charge of having killed Jovanović as a co-perpetrator.
The Court of Appeal overturned that verdict, after which the Council of Judge Lazar Aković sentenced Mandić to 2009 years in prison in April 30.
Ruling on appeals, the sentence was reduced to 18 years, but the Constitutional Court overturned that sentence as well...
Last year, on the eve of the anniversary of Jovanovic's murder, "Dan" announced that after a detailed investigation in which the Italian authorities and forensic experts from Wiesbaden and Danilovgrad were involved, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) rejected the report as unfounded, that is, the report by a private detective made on the occasion of the murder investigation.
At that time, they announced that during the investigation, the SDT did not substantiate in any way that the persons identified in the private detective's report as organizers and helpers participated in the execution of the journalist in any way.
HRA: Foreign expert to review the investigation
Action for Human Rights (HRA) notes with regret that the sixteenth anniversary of the murder of Jovanović is being met without answers to the questions of who all participated in that murder, who ordered it and why, and who is responsible for the fact that the investigation has not led to more serious results, it was announced from that non-governmental organization.
They pointed out that they expect the immediate engagement of a foreign expert for a thorough review of the investigation so far.
"Despite the insufficient results of the investigation and remarks on the omissions in it, the conduct of the investigation so far by the State Prosecutor's Office has not been thoroughly reviewed. Nor was it investigated whether the police did everything necessary to protect Jovanović, taking into account the threats he received and which he reported. "The fact that the murder of the founder and editor-in-chief of a media critical of the government happened at all, and that it has not been brought to light to this day, continuously threatens the freedom of expression and the rule of law in Montenegro," stated HRA.
According to them, shedding light on the murder of Jovanović is necessary for the democratic progress of the country, the establishment of the rule of law and the provision of an environment that encourages the work of journalists.
"We hope that hiring a foreign expert will prevent further wasting of time in the search for truth and justice."
Bonus video:
